Power of Ash: Better Psionics through Ioun Stones

[Cieyrin]

Most people tend to ignore dull grey ioun stones or at best use 'em as handless orbiting torches. The XPH, however, states that a psionic character can use 'em to provide 1 PP before they dust. 3.5 DMG/SRD doesn't list a price for them anymore, though the 3.0 DMG lists them at 25 gp. There isn't a stated action to use an Ioun Stone.

So, basically, at 25 gp/PP, they're a steal and it would seem you can have a swarm of things for pumping out powers, unlike using a cognizance crystal or a Rainbow Ioun Stone, which explicitly works as a CC. So, is there a whole to this that I'm not seeing or is this just an overlooked trick in a sidebar that no one noticed till now?

For your edification, the rules are here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/basics.htm#magicItemsForPsionicCharacters).

[Godskook]

There's a rule you're missing in all this:

A Single Source

When using power points from a storage item to manifest a power, a psionic character may not pay the power’s cost with power points from more than one source. He must either use an item, his own power point reserve, or some other discrete power point source to pay the manifestation cost.

[sonofzeal]

The thing is, Cognizance Crystals can be recharged. This still makes them valuable. Also, I'm not sure you can "sack" a whole bunch of crystals and pool that pp, you may only be able to get off a 1-pp power out of it.

[Zaq]

Hmmm. So you couldn't get more than an unaugmented level 1 power out of it . . . but could you use them to refill a CC, one PP at a time?

[Cieyrin]

There's a rule you're missing in all this:

A Single Source

When using power points from a storage item to manifest a power, a psionic character may not pay the power’s cost with power points from more than one source. He must either use an item, his own power point reserve, or some other discrete power point source to pay the manifestation cost.

Hrm, I was banking on that the Dust Grays aren't treated as cognizance crystals, though it appears they're applied more generally than that. So much for that...


Hmmm. So you couldn't get more than an unaugmented level 1 power out of it . . . but could you use them to refill a CC, one PP at a time?

The rules are silent on using storage devices to restore other storage devices. I was thinking about something similar in relation to recharging psionic circuitry with nonpsionic characters, though Rainbow Iouns seem to be the better choice if that works, since they auto-recharge, unlike normal cognizance crystals.

[marcielle]

At level 1-4 this could be extremely useful,(you are getting the equivalent of a level 1 scroll for 25 gp) especially if you are a low PP class. And being able to use your powers one more time could be the difference between victory and TPK if you are the main manifester. I'd say invest in a 3-5 at level 1, especially if you are levelling slowly. After you have access to 3rd level powers, though they probably aren't worth it. Not even if you could recharge a Cog Crystal with them.

[Zaq]

The rules are silent on using storage devices to restore other storage devices. I was thinking about something similar in relation to recharging psionic circuitry with nonpsionic characters, though Rainbow Iouns seem to be the better choice if that works, since they auto-recharge, unlike normal cognizance crystals.

If you want a slightly cheesy method of recharging psionic circuitry on nonpsionic characters, just make sure they don't get any PP. Capacitors charge at 1 PP per day, and they make you start with 1 fewer PP per day per capacitor. Nowhere do they say that the PP that the capacitors regain actually comes from you, or that you have to have PP to sacrifice in order for the capacitor to work.

Of course, if you want to recharge it faster, you're out of luck without PP of your own, but on their own? You can just get a whole mess of capacitors and 1 PP powers tattooed on a totally nonpsionic character for very little downside, aside from perhaps a skeptical GM.

[Cieyrin]

If you want a slightly cheesy method of recharging psionic circuitry on nonpsionic characters, just make sure they don't get any PP. Capacitors charge at 1 PP per day, and they make you start with 1 fewer PP per day per capacitor. Nowhere do they say that the PP that the capacitors regain actually comes from you, or that you have to have PP to sacrifice in order for the capacitor to work.

Of course, if you want to recharge it faster, you're out of luck without PP of your own, but on their own? You can just get a whole mess of capacitors and 1 PP powers tattooed on a totally nonpsionic character for very little downside, aside from perhaps a skeptical GM.

Well yeah, there's that. I just wanted a capacitor and whatever that tattoo was that let you directly recharge your circuitry and use the capacitor to pump power back into the circuits.

[HappyBlanket]

Eh. It's still pretty useful, depending on your powers. I have a Wilder using Skin of the Construct who might like to have a few dull grey Ioun stones floating around. I wonder if 50 of them is cheaper than a Dorje...

[Zaq]

Eh. It's still pretty useful, depending on your powers. I have a Wilder using Skin of the Construct who might like to have a few dull grey Ioun stones floating around. I wonder if 50 of them is cheaper than a Dorje...

Nope. They're 25 gp each, which just happens to be the exact cost of a level 1 power stone. 25 times 50 is 1,250, which is rather more than the 750 a level 1 dorje costs.

[Draz74]

Seems like if you're already piecing together questionable rules to get cheap PP through equipment, you might as well go the extra mile and get +1 Manifester Ammunition instead. It's a better price, and it recharges daily instead of being a one-time use thing. It might not be affordable at Level 1, but it's pretty manageable by Level 2.